Scars
by zebraboymom
Summary: Both of them have them. Steve confronts Kono about hers. Steve/Kono


**Scars**

**Zebraboymom**

**Disclaimer: They do not belong to me. **

**Author Notes: What if Kono started to get careless after she returned to Five-0. What if she deliberately started putting herself in danger? Steve wants her to stop and to let her know just what she means to him. **

Steve held onto Kono's hand, as she was loaded into the ambulance. Paramedics were doing everything they could to stop the blood flow. She had been knifed just below her ribcage.

"It's okay Boss. I…I'm going to be fine."

Steve was not convinced as he watched the sheet become blood soaked and her eyes started to drift closed.

"Stay with me Kono. Please stay with me."

It had been six months since she had returned to the team and during that time she had been shot again, this time in the back, much worse than the nick in the arm she took during the Fryer case. She had been beaten badly two other times, once requiring stitches. Now she had a knife wound. Each time Steve thought he was going to die.

Kono started to feel herself passing out from the blood loss, but all she could think about was Steve's hand in hers and the panicked look in his eyes. Things had seemed to be getting back to normal. There's just one problem. Steve watches her a lot now and sometimes he just stares at her arm where she was wounded during her IA undercover op. Kono deliberately keeps it covered with over shirts now so he won't stare so much. She doesn't want him to feel guilty.

But he does.

Steve watched as the ambulance screamed away down the street to the hospital. Hours later he waited with the rest of the team and her family hoping for any word from the doctors.

Chin was pacing and Danny was bouncing on the balls of his feet, hands in his pockets. Steve was sitting on the floor with his knees drawn up and his arms resting on them. He didn't even feel like he could stand in that moment.

He looked up as Lori slid down the wall next to him.

"She's going to be okay Steve. I just know it."

He turned his eyes on her then. They were swirling with emotion.

"And what about the next time Lori? She's going to keep taking chances trying to prove…I don't know what and one of these times it's going to get her killed."

"Sounds an awful lot like you."

"What?"

"I'm just saying, she's a lot like you. That's why she drives you crazy. You see yourself in her. That's why you're in love with her." 

"Excuse me?"

Lori looked around to be sure the other guys couldn't hear her.

"I'm not stupid Steve. I watch how you look at her. I see how you smile at her. You have a smile that's only reserved for her. Did you know that? Anyone would be blind not to see how hopelessly in love with her you are."

"I…"

"Don't try to deny it Steve. I see it every day. She feels the same way. She's just too stubborn to admit it. You both are. When she gets out of the hospital you need to tell her. Today we came close to losing her. You never know how much time you have Steve. You need to tell her soon and be together. You never know when that will be taken away."

Lori stood up then and patted him on the shoulder.

"Think about it. She needs you. You need her."

Later that day Kono was sitting up in her hospital bed smiling like nothing had happened. She wouldn't look at Steve though. He could tell she was avoiding his eyes. As they each left she gave them a hug. Steve was the last to approach and when he did he could feel her tense under his embrace. It hurt his feelings and he pulled back to exit without another word. Kono was on three weeks leave as her knife wound healed.

Steve didn't come by once. Chin and Danny came over. Lori came a couple of times and painted her toes for her since she couldn't bend over yet. When Kono returned to work Steve wouldn't look her in the eye. He wouldn't even make eye contact, but now she would catch him looking at her stomach.

Six weeks after the knifing she found herself fighting a guy who was twice her size. He shoved her into a table and as she went down her head split open. She was eventually able to take the guy down, but when Steve arrived blood was running down her face. He went pale, ripping his shirt off and pressing it to her forehead until the paramedics arrived. He held her to his very bare chest and she could feel his heart hammering at a ridiculous speed. She was sure hers matched his. Once the ambulance came for her, he released her and she never saw him again that day. The cut took five stitches, but there was no concussion.

That night Kono padded into the living room with a beer and some popcorn. Putting in a movie, she sat alone on her couch trying to understand just what was going on with her and with Steve. Was he mad at her? Was he worried about her? Why had she been so reckless lately? It was like she thought she had to prove herself all over again. Lori seemed to really like Steve and Kono felt…what? Jealous? Threatened? She shook her head only to feel her stitches pull a little. That hurt, but at least her headache was gone.

Her thoughts consumed her and she turned the movie off to sit in the darkened room. Steve confused her on so many levels. Why hadn't he come to see her both of the last two times she was hurt? What did that mean? Was it that he didn't care?

She felt her eyes tearing up, but angrily brushed them aside.

There was a knock at the door. It was late. Who would come over this late at night?

She jogged to her bedroom, pulled her service revolver out of her nightstand and made her way to the door, as the knocking became pounding. Looking through the peephole she was shocked to find Steve leaning one arm against the doorframe and looking up at the sky. He looked down and she could see his face was a storm of emotion. She swallowed hard and slowly opened the door.

"Boss? What's wrong?"

Nothing. His eyes burned into hers.

"Steve?"

"Show me."

"What?"

"Show me."

The next thing Kono knew Steve had lifted her in his arms, kicking the door shut and forcing her to wrap her legs around his waist. He walked her back to her kitchen counter and set her down gently. He was slow to release her and she shuddered when she felt him bury his face in her hair for a few seconds. He finally moved back and started unbuttoning her over shirt. Kono's hands snapped to capture his.

"Steve, what are you doing?"

Steve removed her hands and placed them down on the counter, returning to the buttons. Her hands immediately flew to his again. He grabbed them and again forced them down on the counter.

"Don't."

"Steve?"

He fixed his eyes on hers. It's in that moment that Kono saw it. He'd been crying and the hint of more tears was brimming about to spill over. She doesn't understand what is going on, but she loves him and so she let him continue. She watched him in fascination as he tenderly continued to unbutton and gently slide the material off her shoulders. Once it is removed, he takes the arm where she was hit catching Delano and runs his fingers slowly over the scar. His lips brush lightly over it and she shivers from his touch.

Just as she starts to calm herself he reaches for her tank top.

"Up."

His hands slid the fabric up her abdomen and she willingly raised her arms leaving herself in her bikini top. He turned her and found the wound on her back where she was shot a few months ago. Once again he ran his fingers over it and brushed her hair away to bend and place a warm open mouth kiss on it.

What he did next shocked her. He pushed her back to lie on the counter and she felt his lips on the knife wound. It was a small scar, but when he looked up at her with tears in his eyes she was choked with emotion as well.

Steve pulled her up and into his arms for another hug before he pulled back and his fingers made their way to her latest wound. The look he gave her was intense as he feathered his fingers over the stitches across her temple and watched her face. Kono couldn't help but flinch and Steve placed his lips gently on her forehead and held them there. The look that passed between them when he pulled back made Kono shiver again and smile shyly up at him.

Steve took a deep shuddering breath, cupped her face with his hands, leaned in and captured her lips. It was soft and barely there at first, but it turned passionate when she wrapped her arms around his neck and returned the kiss. He fondly held her face in his hands when he released her.

"I'm so sorry Kono. Two years ago I said I would do my best to protect you and I haven't done that. I've done a crappy job, but you scare me. I'm scared Kono."

"What?"

"No more."

His breath was warm on her cheek.

"No more Kono…no more. You have to be more careful because I love you and I can't lose you."

"You won't. I couldn't leave you if I tried."

He picked her up from the counter, once again she wrapped her legs around his waist and he carried her to her bedroom.

"Tell me you don't want this."

"I can't. I love you too. I have for a long time."

Steve lowered her to the bed and rested his weight on his forearms. His voice came out in a shaky whisper.

"You are so beautiful."

"Even with my scars?"

"Especially because of your scars. Promise me you will be more careful."

"I promise."

"No more talking."

"No more."

He made love to her in a fierce and protective way. The way he cradled her body was reverent and tender in a way she never imagined he could be. Afterwards when she regained her strength she pushed him over on his back and straddled his hips.

"Kono, what are you doing?"

"Shh."

Kono slowly mapped Steve's scars. She kissed each one from the scar where he broke his arm and needed stitches, to the burn marks from Korea and finally the most recent cut to his forehead when he was hit by the car. Steve ran his hands through her hair and watched her with eyes darkened from their lovemaking.

He had never allowed himself to be this vulnerable with another person. Not ever.

She found other scars from when he was a SEAL and looked at Steve each time for an explanation. He shared them all. Her eyes were filled with tears again as she heard about the many times he had been put in harms' way.

She loved him so much in those moments.

This time when they made love it was slow and gentle.

Once they were both satiated Steve pulled Kono up and she buried her face in his neck. Steve wrapped his arms around her and their legs became tangled as she laid her hand on his chest over his heart. His hand ran up into her hair and he snuggled her as close as he could get her.

"You're not ever getting away from me again Kono."

"Don't plan on it. This time I'm running to you."

"Good answer."

The joining of their lips sealed the deal.

They giggled softly when both of them sighed into the kiss at the same time.

Just as they were both drifting off to sleep Kono whispered into the dark.

"You're my hero you know."

"And you're mine."

The two warriors drifted off to sleep safe for the time being in each other's arms.

**A/N: Okay. Got that off my chest. Not sorry to see Lori leaving last Monday night. If Steve has anyone in his life other than Kono right now, I'm glad it's Catherine. I've got two longer stories on my brain. Hope to post a first chapter by the weekend, but we'll see. Don't forget to check out the H5-0 Ohana Favorite Awards on Live Journal and nominate.**** I have some faves of my own. See you soon.**


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